Hello jury! I'll try to explain my game as short as I can
Coming into this game I didn't know many people. I know of them, but I only knew Arek outside of this game and played with 3 other people. However, when I saw this cast I saw many people that have been very big in group game community so sitting in f3 at the end of this season is pretty big for me.
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- PRE MERGE -
At the premiere I actually really wanted to be on Vinstra, because I wanted to start the game with Arek and I felt like Brevik was overall more cutthroat. Arek even asked me if he should pick me, but I said no, because I didn't want anybody to know that we had any type of relationship outside of this game. Ray asked me if I wanted to join Brevik, so of course I couldn't say no.
I quickly started talking to everyone and trying to build some good relationships, which could keep me during the early game. I was also added to a chat with Jordan, Ray, Bryan, Brady and Scott. I always play under the radar during early game and I just try to socialize without making any moves, so just being added to one chat was enough for me to float to the tribe swap
However, after Aidan gave me the cursed necklace and somehow told that I had an idol it was hard for me to move in this game. I'm just not used to having so much attention during pre-merge. I tried to do some demage control by proving that I don't have an idol with few screenshots, even tho I think it worked I knew that demage was done, since Bryan even told Arek from the other tribe that I had the idol so I never knew who knows about it and who doesn't.
I also made a mistake by trying really hard in the coconuts comp. It kinda put a threat on my head, because it looked like I was very connected, which I wasn't since I only knew Arek from the other side, but I wanted to get that immunity, because I couldn't vote at that tribal. However I tried to make new allies, I talked with Jon, Skyler and gave a lot of my coconuts to Julian. It was an investment in the future, that didnt pay off I guess. When I woke up after immunity, I heard that my name was thrown out by Bryan. It didn't make me nervous, because I felt like people knew they could use me as a vote later, since at that point I built few solid relationships. I tried to be in Scott's ear about Nick and Mark the whole day, because at that point I felt much closer to Hufus than to Nick and I was scared of Mark's relationship with Mark and Brady. When Nick started throwing Ray's name it opened a door for me to convince Scott to push Mark as a vote. I couldn't do much more since I was already considered as a possible vote so I prefered to stay quiet. I wouldn't say I was the reason that Nick became a vote, but I definitely played a part there. When Brady voted with Huf, Nick and Mark it also showed me much more of this tribe's dynamic and not being able to vote actually helped me, because I didn't need to pick a side.
After the tribe swap I actually liked my tribe. Thanks to coconuts I knew Skyler and had my 2 best allies - Jordan and Arek. After we lost the comp people wanted to vote out Arek. At first I didn't want to do anything about it, because like I said I don't like having a spotlight on me before the merge. However I didn't like the fact that Brady was protecting Yung. I kinda felt that Brady loves his heroes from his group game (Scott, Yung) so I didnt want to give him another number. I tired hard to get votes on Yung, however Bryan didn't really want to work with me, so Arek sadly had to go home.
-MERGE-
I knew that if I want to survive in this game I can't move forward with my old tribemates. I started building relationships with Sag, Jonathan and Eric. I also knew that Scott, Nick, Eric and Hufus put a target on their back after they blindsided Layla. I also had immunity for 2 tribals so I pretty much tried building trust among people from OG Vinstra. It also helped me a lot when Scott got voted out. Scott was pretty much the only one (besides Jordan) that made me connected to old Brevik. With him gone I didn't have to care about Jonthan going after my ally.
During Mark's vote I knew that Brady was considering voting Jonathan/Eric. I didn't want to do it, so I basically told everything I knew to Jon and Eric to not also get their votes, but to make them trust me more. When Eric threw Mark's name I started campaigning and I got Skyler, Jordan, Jon and Eric on board and I also knew that Sag would vote with us. We only needed one more. I thought we could get Bryan on board, but we didn't know yet that he was close with Yung and Brady. So it looked like 6-6, however after the word got out about a tie it was clear that nobody wanted to go to rocks and Mark went home.
At the next vote we had full control with 6 solid members. At first the vote was Brady, however Skyler was playing both sides at the point and he was scared of Yung coming after him if we vote out Brady. At first I didn't want to vote Yung, because I felt like I could play the game more with him than with Brady. At this time I didn't feel like I had much influence on OG Vinstra people since I was new to their dynamic. I went with it, because with Jon/Sag already being big threats I also knew that Skyler would get some heat for that move. I didn't really care if it's Yung or Brady, since they both would need to go at some point.
During the first fast-forward the plan was clear - voting Brady out. He was a big threat to all of us.With having full control over the game we only needed to care about idols. And well..ofc we failed (not our first time, not last time). Sag sadly went home, but I actually liked it. Sag was Jon's best ally in the game, so with him gone it opened a window for me to become even closer with him.
After that vote we finally made a proper chat with me, Jordan, Eric, Jon and Skyler. We were AGAIN scared of an idol, but we couldn't split the votes. The vote changed many times actually. I still don't know if they had another idol at that point or not, but right before the vote I realized that Brady had the merge idol and Eric got only 1 clue, so if they had another pre-merge idol they would've probably used it during Mark's vote. Idk if I was right or not, but thankfully Brady went home.
The next vote was a failure again lol I don't know HOW we always messed up the vote. I had immunity this time tho, so I really didn't care much about the vote that much. I started strategizing with both Eric and Jordan about f3. I also talked a lot with Skyler and Jon at that point, so i felt really good with my future in the game. Sadly Eric got voted out, which at first made me upset, because I felt like he was one of my best allies, but he was also a big threat, big social guy and comp beast, so it wasn't that bad.
The next votes were pretty straightforward. We knew if anybody wants a chance at winning we have to eliminate the other side. Some of us became a little bit paranoid about who has connections with Huf/Nick/Bryan, but I made sure to tell like every hour that we must vote them out before f4. If Eric didn't go home I would've probably made a different move, probably voting out Skyler, but I had to work with what I was given. During Nick's vote I also told them to split it, because we couldn't risk Nick going any further, since he was capable of winning immunities and then it would be gg for us. At f5 if Skyler didn't win immunity I would've tried to blindside him however, but ofc this motherfucker won.
At f4 I knew I was already in ftc. I knew Jordan wouldn't blindside me, since we had a strong bond since day 1. Jonathan and Skyler were wildcards. After Skyler told me that he's voting me I just accepted fire making challenge thinking it would be a spamming comp, which I knew I would've probably won against Jon. Of course even tho I had full faith in Jordan I was still shitting my pants, but he proved to be a loyal ally. I was shitting my pants even more when I saw that FMC was a 70% luck comp lol But I made it and I'm here :)
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Conclusion
I feel like during this game many obstacles were thrown my way, I was never fully at the top of any alliance. I was always nr 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th. But I proved that I knew how to manage the numbers and I was always thinking fast about making plan B, C and D when many times things didnt go my way. I feel proud of the game I played. It was not perfect, not even close to being perfect, but it got me here so I'm happy with the way I played, especially knowing how I played many years ago in 2015 during Ben's first generation. Playing with players of this caliber also taught me a lot of things that I hope I'll apply in future group games I play.